Buccaneer 24 Builders Forum

AFAIK the were no class restraints on the B24.
As designed it is a very strong boat and can take all the stresses of bigger rigs.
More than the crew can I would say.

 

go big or go home

OS can probably answer the why better, but the Buc was intended to be easy to build and be an all purpose pocket cruiser for a family. Multis of any kind were cutting edge and tended to be conservative. Also, I think coastal AUS has more wind than some other areas. Sails and sail handing equipment has improved tremendously in the last 40 years- and some of that has finally reached down under Crowther didn't have it available. The A-chute and fixed prod allow much larger downwind sails to be handled by small crews. Full batten mains were only a dream when most battens were still wooden.
Also remember, Sam's crew had another name for Capricorn
Spinnakers, gennakers, reachers- what ever you want to call them, all work fine on the Buc, but your handing gear and crew will determine how often you use them. The apparent wind goes forward as soon as the big sails are launched, so you are always sailing a reach. My tacking and jibe angles are almost the same. I have a 15' x 31' screacher on a furler that is easy to set and sail with, but I rarely find it useful where I sail. Its is not big enough to make much difference over the 150% downwind, and we don't have much close reaching- its all upwind or downwind. On the coast, it might be different- I have spent many happy hours reaching along the shore in beach cats. I think a fairly large (at least 450 sq') light reacher on a prod with a furler would get the most use, and it wouldn't scare you or the crew very often B

 

"Also remember, Sam's crew had another name for Capricorn" LOL.

 

adding sail

All, thanks for the advice and recs. this will be an evolving process, i will likely close the season out with what i have, and look to add more sail area over the winter. time to start searching the used sails!

 

Although OS7 disagrees with me, the biggest step to B24 performance is to clean up and lengthen the too steep rocker in the profile of the after sections. On Miranda, the difference from original in speed, reduced *** end drag and wave making was ... huge.

 

biggest improvement on my Bucc's boat speed was more sail area. In anything over about 8 knots of breeze the transom was way clear of the water, extra length would just be extra weight.

With the standard sail plan it would be a different story I guess as your going slower most of the time

 

great photo showing the taller rig and bigger sailplan we used

 

Not when I saw your boat, Sam, threw up an ugly stern wave (maybe the *** was sitting in the hollow when you looked astern), but it was there and also quite obvious in your posted photograph. Miranda's was clean and smooth after alterations. We were for refinement with the standard sail area ... while the Green Death Machine was for brutal overpower on a not great hydrodynamic platform.

 

Gary. I didn't disagree with you.

In my post #15 on the 8.5M rule thread, I said:-
"Reducing the angle on the buttocks area, (Like Miranda), is accomplished with little addition of weight by simply extending the keel line and angling the transom. No need to overdo it. The alternate spade rudder would be just fine".

 

plans?

So did those last set of plans get snatched up yet Old Sailor? If so any other options been put in motion yet?

thanks, have loved reading all the posts form the shadows

 

I'm sorry elklan.
That last set of plans has been spoken for.
I don't expect to produce any more.
Contrary to some peoples opinions it's neither easy nor quick to assemble the package which I have been producing.
As I have said before it's not worth my while to produce less than five sets at one go and I am not getting much demand of late.
If the demand picks up I will of course continue----but it's pretty slack at this time.

It's a shame because the B24 is such a simple tri, which can be built quickly and
relatively inexpensively, in a small space, by anyone with basic carpentry skills.

Lock Crowther designed it to be a simple pocket cruiser for three people.
But it turned out to be a giant killer when tweaked a little bit for racing.
But to my mind it is still a very modern looking sailing trimaran.

 

Thanks

Well disappointed of course but also thanks for all the support you have given to B24 builders. Hopefully there will be plans available again one day soon

 

elklan.
If I do produce more B24 plans you will be the first to know.

 

power up!

I have almost the same rig as Capricorn, and yes, it is "over powered", but it surely is fun I also pull a big stern wave in the 7-9kt range (especially if I can't get my "moveable ballast" forward), but above that the main hull picks up enough to lift the stern clear. IMO, a wider and or longer run aft would allow more weight aft and would make trimming the boat easier and probably be faster. I think it would also help prevent the hobby horsing in short waves that the Buc seems prone to.
My friend that has the Buc "26" has not gotten it in the water, but I am very interested in how it performs- it has a very modified hull.
I think I would/will build longer floats before I mess with the main hull since I can usually transfer most of the boat's weight to the floats when going fast. The float A-boards are also very effective, and I haven't sailed in enough different conditions to decide which would be best. (or both) The A-boards are really hard to deal with when round the bouy racing with a small crew, but I would like them on longer courses. The larger floats would always be there and should give me a little more reserve with the taller rig- I have seen the video of Capricorn sticking it I haven't tried that-yet.
B

 

hello all. ive finally got my backside into gear and have started putting my buc back together. I was really hesitant about starting because i knew there was a lot of rot in the rear beam and i was entirely sure i could rebuild it safely. So my plan was pretty simple. I got a saw and started cutting the rear beam. I kept cutting until i had all the rot out and as it turned out, almost all of the beam in the boat as well as the peices i had cut when i originally cut the boat up, were all but gone. The best thing was i realised how it was made and that i could in fact rebuild it so the last couple of weeks have involved a lot of shed time cutting timber, sanding and mixing epoxy. I thought id post a couple of pics of how it is going as well as a pic i found of my boat when i was sailing it on Lake Macquarie. The pic shows us with my cruising dacron main and kevlar #2 headsail. I just measured my mast for another reason but thought i would post it up here. Overall- 11m(36ft) Luff length on main- 10.3m(34ft). Im not sure on spinnaker sizes but i use a masthead assy that flies off a 49er bowsprit(7ft) and sheets off the rear beam. Quite a big spinnaker and when i put the boat back together i'll put a choker on the halyard so i can run a kite from the hounds. Im also planning on having non overlapping headsails and a screecher for light winds